Advanced recycling company Agilyx Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Norway-headquartered Agilyx AS announced today a significant milestone in their collaboration with a strategic technology partner which will allow for the recycling of brominated flame retardant-laden polystyrene into a high purity styrene monomer for direct use in downstream products including PS, EPS, ABS, SBR, SAN, and Unsaturated Polyester Resins.
Brominated flame retardant-laden polystyrene is an environmental problem. For many years, the main flame retardant used in EPS and XPX insulation was HBCD. However, its use in products containing concentrations of more than 100 mg/kg has been prohibited in the EU since 2016. This is regulated in EU Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 on persistent organic pollutants, which requires that waste POPs, like HBCD, must be disposed of or recovered in such a way as to ensure that “the persistent organic pollutant content is destroyed or irreversibly transformed”. The current method through which this is achieved is mainly through thermal incineration or energy recovery, although a new process is currently being used at a demo plant in Terneuzen, the Netherlands, which aims to demonstrate the feasibility of using solvent-based purification to recycle this type of waste.
According to Agilyx, its depolymerisation processes also open the door for the successful recycling of construction foam and insulation. Following depolymerisation, the styrene monomer can be put back into use to produce new materials at a quality level equivalent to those manufactured from any other styrene monomer. These materials can then be used for any application from building materials to food containers.
"The ability to recycle flame retardant-laden polystyrene not only allows this contaminated material to be part of a sustainable recycling value chain, but it will open up new markets that were previously closed due to the contamination associated with these materials,” said Tim Stedman, chief executive officer of Agilyx. “This is an exciting step on our mission to making all plastics circular, even those that are most distressed and contaminated."